Which Saturn Games Still Matter?

[durkada]

Ah. Well, it's been done on other systems, but never bettered: Saturn Bomberman.

[Rooster]

Hey, im a new guy!

Silhouette Mirage might be worth the consideration. I know it was also a Playstation port, but the original was for Saturn and from what I understand the Saturn version is superior in multiple ways.

maybe Cotton Boomerang? I also second Dragon Force and PDS.

[arion]

Dynamite cop for the dreamcast is a sequel to die hard arcade. Same story and same final boss..save the presidents daughter from the same bearded bad guy..and i´d say the both matter since they are fun beatemups.

[racketboy]

Hey, im a new guy!

Silhouette Mirage might be worth the consideration. I know it was also a Playstation port, but the original was for Saturn and from what I understand the Saturn version is superior in multiple ways.

maybe Cotton Boomerang? I also second Dragon Force and PDS.

Nice to have you aboard!
From Wikipedia:
"Silhouette Mirage is a video game that was developed by Treasure Co. Ltd and initially published by ESP for the Sega Saturn on September 10, 1997 in Japan[1]. The game was later ported to the Sony PlayStation and published by ESP on July 23, 1998 in Japan, and by Working Designs on December 31, 1999 in the U.S.).[2]"

so the Saturn version came first
But yes, it is a great game! Unfortunately, the PSX version is the only one in English.

[racketboy]

Dynamite cop for the dreamcast is a sequel to die hard arcade. Same story and same final boss..save the presidents daughter from the same bearded bad guy..and i´d say the both matter since they are fun beatemups.

The control and camera were better in Die Hard Arcade though, IIRC
Dynamite Cop was "ok", but needed more polish technically...

[Saraph]

Fighters Megamix and Clockwork Knight 2. That's really all i have besides just about every Capcom fighter released on the system.

[Dr. J]

Sega Rally is about the peak of arcade racing, better than the sequel IMO. There have only been a few racing games that have kept me glued to my seat trying to beat my best time by a hundredth of a second, and Sega Rally is one of them.

Decathlete and Winter Heat are the best track and field-style games ever made, bar none. They don't have a huge fan base today obviously, but if you're like me and have a group of friends that love them they're a blast.

I'd give Virtua Cop 2 a nod. When it comes to lightgun games, it doesn't get much better, even today. IMO only House of the Dead 2 and Time Crisis 3 are in the same league. The original Virtua Cop and House of the Dead are also good, but VC has definitely been bested and the graphics of House of the Dead hold it back.
EDIT: ...But now I remember that VC2 was also released on Dreamcast and on PS2 in japan, so it's not a Saturn exclusive

Similarly, Virtua Fighter 2 is still spectacular. I've played the hell out of Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter 4, but when I got a Saturn off ebay a few months ago I still found myself playing the hell out of this one. I know we have Virtua Fighter 5 coming out soon enough, but... it's kind of weird. Virtua Fighter 2 is still complex as hell, but it's not the bottomless well of complexity that the later Tekkens, Soul Caliburs, and VFs seem to be, which is something I really enjoy. So I guess you could say it still matters because it's been bested? Fighters Megamix is also fun, but the gameplay is a little too sloppy compared to today's 3D fighters; its mostly fun because of the wide assortment of characters and backgrounds to unlock, and for playing with more casual friends.

Most of the Saturn's shmup library still havn't been bested. While there have been entries recently as good as some of the best Saturn stuff (Ikaruga), it still hasn't been clearly surpassed. Soukyugerentai and Thunder Force V still rule.

Most of the Saturn's 2D fighter library have been surpassed. Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service is better than Vampire Savior, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology has a better port of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, Street Fighter Collection has a better port of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (well, semi-port, it's Hyper Street Fighter or something), and so on. However, the Saturn still has some obscure stuff like Cyberbots and Waku Waku 7 that's unlikely to be ported to any other console. Furthermore, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, King of Fighters 96/97, and Samurai Shodown IV are considered by me to be better than their various sequels, but that's really just a matter of preference.

I havn't played Panzer Dragoon Orta, but Panzer Dragoon Zwei is an amazing shooter, and I only got it a few months ago, so it definitely still matters today in my eyes. I'd say the same of Panzer Dragoon, but I know it's an unlockable in Orta, so I don't know how that works out.

I would include Die Hard Arcade. When it comes to beat-em-ups, it's still near the top of the heap.

And of course there's the obvious ones: Panzer Dragoon Saga, Dragon Force, Shining Force 3 (and the spinoffs are good too), Saturn Bomberman, Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, NiGHTS, and Burning Rangers (which definitely should be included)

[Saraph]

Most of the Saturn's 2D fighter library have been surpassed. Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service is better than Vampire Savior, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology has a better port of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection has a better port of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (well, semi-port, it's Hyper Street Fighter or something), and so on. However, the Saturn still has some obscure stuff like Cyberbots and Waku Waku 7 that's unlikely to be ported to any other console. Furthermore, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, King of Fighters 96/97, and Samurai Shodown IV are considered by me to be better than their various sequels, but that's really just a matter of preference.

While I agree that X-Men vs. Street Fighter should be included in the list, I am baffled as to how you came to the conclusion that Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold was ported better in the Playstation 2 Anthology. I've played it and it's really nothing special. All the games in Anthology are arcade perfect, so you can arguably say all of them are better than the minimal loading of Saturn ports. Then again, you don't have the privilage of looking at the snazzy box art from the Saturn's Street Fighter Collection or the albeit rare Street Fighter Zero 2' (I own one ^_^). Either way, I'd take extra's over minimal increases in loading any day.

Also, Hyper Street Fighter II isn't exactly the pinnical of the II series. I would say Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master's Challenge (For Matching Service) was a much better end to the series than the slapped together Hyper Street Fighter II. Even though you have all the characters from every Street Fighter II game selectable among their different variations throughout the years, it definitely does not feel like playing the same game we grew up playing. Slight tweaks to improve and remove bugs in the fighting system have really dulled the nostalgic feel of the much earlier games such as The World Warrior. Here is a quote from Wikipedia to further prove my point as to how broken this game really is:

One should also note that there are several criticisms about the title itself. A problem with HYPER Street Fighter 2 is that CAPCOM to some extent butchered the visuals of the game when converting it to Hi-Res, which means that the game itself does not look as crisp and clear as its arcade counterpart SUPER Street Fighter 2 TURBO. Another problem deals with the difficulty level of the game. At the default setting (MEDIUM, which on home console versions of SF2 games is the equivalent of 4 STARS) the COM opponents do more damage than you, and are easily capable of taking out a human player with machine-gun like movements; at HARDEST, the COM opponent is capable of beating a human player with simply about 4-5 hits, or 1 hit and a super combo which takes about 80% of your health at any difficulty (HUMAN players can only dish out 40-60% with a super combo). In ST the opponent slightly did more damage which enforced an emphasis of using combos, however this issue with the A.I. being extremely "cheap" was not present in the Arcade or home console versions of any SF2 game or even in the Japanese counterpart of HYPER SF2.

Alright, done.

[SegaVega]

All the games in Anthology are arcade perfect

Just to jump in with an irritating correction, the games in Anthology aren't "arcade perfect". There's never been such thing as arcade perfect Street Fighter (or practically anything else) on any home game system.

The CPSII originals you're talking about ran at a resolution of 384x224, which the PS2 can't reproduce. Capcom had to settle for 640x480, which resulted in "artifacting". It can't be helped, so it can't be called arcade perfect.

[Saraph]

All the games in Anthology are arcade perfect

Just to jump in with an irritating correction, the games in Anthology aren't "arcade perfect". There's never been such thing as arcade perfect Street Fighter (or practically anything else) on any home game system.

The CPSII originals you're talking about ran at a resolution of 384x224, which the PS2 can't reproduce. Capcom had to settle for 640x480, which resulted in "artifacting". It can't be helped, so it can't be called arcade perfect.

I stand corrected. Thanks for informing me of that. So really, the Saturn version's would still be superior even with the minimal loading?